My Fair Lady ★★★★★ BANG

 

The last time we saw “My Fair Lady” was the last year of San Francisco Playhouse’s old Sutter St. theater. It received a ★★★★★ WOO HOO rating, the highest in San Francisco Theater Blog’s history. Yes, the folks there really loved Henry Higgins and the entire bloomin’ Dolittle family. But that show, in 2013, in a 90-seat theater, with two dueling pianos set up on either side of the stage instead of a full orchestra, was intimate and sensational. Could SFP do it again?

Be assured that 2025’s production is bigger, sharper and glitzier, featuring Dave Dobrusky’s bursting orchestra and Nicole Helfer’s standout choreography, plus crackerjack performances by the entire ensemble. But it’s still intimate and, to our delight, is every bit as terrific as before.

Lerner and Loewe’s magnificent piece of theater has defined what a musical should be since its debut in 1956. That’s a long time for songs to remain relevant, social issues to stay important (and unresolved), and, most importantly, for us to still be able to root for poor Eliza and ridiculous Henry. And the music: the entire evening, start to finish, will super-glue itself into your hum center. You may wake yourself up singing “You said that you would do it, you did it, you did it!”…

…Or “I Could Have Danced All Night.” 

…Or “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly.” 

…Or the whizbang “Get Me to the Church on Time.”

Adam Magill is a perfect Henry and Jillian A. Smith an equally perfect Liza. Smith even looks a little like Audrey Hepburn. 

But for us the star of the evening is Jomar Tagatac as Alfred P. Dolittle. Stanley Holloway is the gold standard for Alfie, but believe us when we say Tagatac is hot on Holloway’s heels. A splash of Cockney lives inside this man.

And congratulations to Bill English for steering this large cast in the right direction from beginning to end.

We all loved "Hamilton," but we didn't wake up singing the tunes, did we? Lerner and Loewe must have known our address, on the street where we live. 

RATINGS: ★★★★★ BANG

We have a few niggles, a flat note here and there, some lines bumping into each other, the voice/music mix a bit wonky, you know, Opening Night stuff. Also, we can’t remember what our previous WOO HOO rating meant. So this time San Francisco Playhouse’s “My Fair Lady” simply receives the highest rating of the year: Five Stars with a Bangle of Praise. The Bangle is for Eliza’s perfect “Aooowwwwww.” Indeed, she’s a good girl, she is. 

“My Fair Lady”

San Francisco Playhouse

450 Post St.

Second floor of Kensington Park Hotel

Through Sept 15, 2025

$52-$135